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Comment by jimbob45 | Hacker News Reader

I’m amazed Meta/Instagram is getting investigated for antitrust while Apple is getting away with what got MS pegged in 98. It’s easy to assume regulatory capture but I wonder if Apple is effectively untouchable by whichever party is incumbent. Apple represents such a huge chunk of the US economy that penalties would likely rock the market. Market instability has ruined the careers of many politicians over the years.

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The case against MS was abusive licensing practices. MS blocked OEMs from choosing their own default browser, and charged OEMs a license fee even if the computers weren't running Windows. That doesn't apply to Apple which does not license their OS.

Android and ChromeOS both technically allow other browser engines, but in practice non-Chromium browsers are a rounding error on those platforms. You can technically allow other browser engines, but that does not create a robust browser market.

All of that is just conjecture until Apple actually allows different browser engines.

Apple and Google are the most deserving of being split up [1], but you won't see it happen. Do you know how many congresspersons likely hold Apple stock?

Meanwhile Facebook is used as a platform to criticize politicians on both sides of the aisle. They all hate it.

[1] As I most recently articulated here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29908253

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